PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Application/claim
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Preliminary issues
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Time for appealing
The Employment Judge had erred in law when considering whether an error as to the correct name of the Respondent in an early conciliation certificate was a ‘minor error’ and whether it was not in the interests of justice to reject the claim.
It was common ground that by the time the error was rectified, the claim was outside the primary limitation period. The Tribunal had decided that it was practicable to have brought the claim within the three month period and therefore refused to extend time.
The parties agreed that, pursuant to section 35(1) of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996, the Appeal Tribunal would decide the ‘minor error’ and ‘interests of justice’ issues, rather than remit the issue back to the Employment Tribunal.
The Appeal Tribunal decided, on the facts, that the error was minor and that it would not be in the interests of justice to reject the claim. The Appeal Tribunal therefore set aside the Decision and substituted a decision that the claim was in time.
The claim would therefore proceed on its merits. If the Appeal Tribunal had not found that the Tribunal had erred in law in relation to the ‘minor error’ issue, it would have found no error in the Employment Judge’s decision to refuse an extension of time.
Judges:
Kerr J
Citations:
[2017] UKEAT 0254 – 16 – 0407, [2017] ICR D21
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Science Warehouse Ltd v Mills EAT 9-Oct-2015
EAT Practice and Procedure : Amendment – Amendment of an ET claim to add a new cause of action – ACAS Early Conciliation (Section 18A Employment Tribunals Act 1996 (as amended))
At a Preliminary Hearing, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment
Updated: 28 March 2022; Ref: scu.591130
